Yesterday crude oil prices settled at $77.43 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After rising for many months this year, oil prices are stabilizing or falling due to the increasing unemployment levels. The price of natural gas for December delivery closed at $4.595 per 1,000 cubic feet.
When oil prices rose to almost $150 per barrel last year, many of the oil exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, etc. reaped huge profits and built up their foreign exchange reserves.
Each year the oil giant (BP) publishes the “BP Statistical Review of World Energy“.The following are some interesting charts from the this year’s report:
1. Distribution of Proven Oil Reserves over the years
2. Historical Oil Prices from 1861 thru 2008
3. Coal Production and Consumption
4. Distribution of Proven Natural Gas Reserves over the years
The US was the largest consumer of oil in the world in 2008 at 884 million tonnes. The second largest consumer was China at 375M tonnes followed by Japan.
